Hire an Interim Operations Director · Jobs UK
Interim Operations Director Jobs · hire an interim operations director
for the gap, or hire an operations director
Hire an interim Operations Director — full-time operational leadership on a fixed-term assignment — to steady delivery, fix a site or a process, integrate an acquisition or cover through a vacancy. Also searched as interim head of operations. Or browse live interim Operations Director jobs below.
- £500–£1,800 a day (Exec Capital)
- Full-time, fixed-term
- Site, function or business
- Shortlist of 3–5
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire an interim Operations Director
Tell us the situation and the start date. We come back with interim Operations Director candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the assignment and the start date
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
Interim Operations Director jobs · last 3 months
Live Interim Operations Director jobs
01/ definition
What is an interim Operations Director?
An interim Operations Director runs operations — a function, a site or a region — full-time for a fixed term. One level below an interim COO, who owns the whole operating model from the board.
01 · cadence
The Operations Director seat, five days a week.
An interim Operations Director takes the role in full — delivery, service levels, the operations team and the cost base — rather than advising from outside it.
02/ scope
What an interim Operations Director owns
The interim carries operational accountability for the term; managers and team leads keep the day-to-day.
- Delivery and service KPIs
- Operations budget and cost base
- Process and quality
- Supply chain and suppliers
- Health and safety oversight
- Operations team structure
- Systems and continuous improvement
- Handover to the permanent hire
- Shift rotas
- Routine purchasing
- Individual projects
- Facilities admin
- Report production
- First-line supervision
03/ alternatives
Interim Operations Director vs COO, fractional and permanent
The same seat, four ways of filling it.
→ In smaller companies the titles blur; hire for the scope.
04/ rates
Interim Operations Director day rates, UK 2026
Published figures only, each with its source. Company size and mandate set the band.
- SME£500–£900Exec Capital
- Mid-market£800–£1,400Exec Capital
- Turnaround / crisis£1,000–£1,600Exec Capital
- PE-backed / complex£1,000–£1,800Exec Capital
Six months full-time (about 130 working days) is roughly £65,000–£117,000 at SME scale and £104,000–£182,000 mid-market — our arithmetic.
05/ calculator
What an interim Operations Director costs
Model a fixed-term interim Operations Director against a permanent Operations Director over the same period.
£1,100 a day is within the published Mid-market band (£800–£1,400, Exec Capital).
Interim cost for the term
£143,000
130 working days · 5 d/wk · 6 mo · before tax
Interim costs more over 6 months£67,313
Book a 15-minute call →Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = the £86,500 median Director/Head of Operations salary (Robert Half) pro rata for the same months, plus 15% employer NI, plus a 30% search fee on the annual base (UK retained search runs 25–35%, Headhunters.co.uk). Excludes pension, bonus and equity.
06/ tax
Is an interim Operations Director tax-deductible?
General position under UK rules, with the HMRC source for each point. Not tax advice — check your own case with your accountant.
01 · DEDUCTIBLE
The fees are a business expense
An interim Operations Director’s fees, like a salary, are deductible against profits when incurred wholly and exclusively for the trade (HMRC BIM37000). At the 25% main rate, each £1,000 of fees costs a profitable company £750 after relief.
02 · EMPLOYER NI
Employer NI follows IR35 status
A permanent Operations Director carries employer National Insurance at 15% (gov.uk). An interim engaged through their own company carries none when the engagement is outside IR35; inside IR35, the fee-payer deducts tax and NI and pays employer NI. Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice.
03 · WHO DECIDES
IR35 status, by company size
Medium and large clients determine the interim’s status themselves; for a small private-sector client, the interim’s own company decides (HMRC off-payroll guidance).
07/ decision
When to hire an interim Operations Director
Four situations where companies hire an interim Operations Director.
Which sounds like you?
Late deliveries, rising cost, unhappy customers and no senior owner on the floor.
- → KPI reset
- → Cost base
- → Quality
Two sites or businesses to bring together after a deal.
- → Integration plan
- → Systems
- → People
The Operations Director leaves mid-programme.
- → Continuity
- → Team
- → Search
A new ERP, WMS or site that must go live without disrupting delivery.
- → Go-live
- → Training
- → Stabilise
08/ guide
Hiring an interim Operations Director: what to get right
Pick the level. An interim Operations Director fixes and runs operations; an interim COO owns the whole operating model from the board. The COO band is higher — £800–£2,000 a day on Exec Capital’s guide.
Start with the outcome: service back to target, a site integrated, a system live, a permanent hire in post. Put it and a date in the brief.
Budget from the published bands. Exec Capital puts interim Operations Director day rates at £500–£900 for SMEs, £800–£1,400 mid-market, £1,000–£1,800 for PE-backed or complex operations and £1,000–£1,600 for turnaround. A permanent Director or Head of Operations is a median £86,500 (Robert Half) before on-costs and a retained search fee.
Check the track record against the environment — manufacturing, logistics and service operations are different jobs — and take references from recent assignments; we do the same before anyone reaches a shortlist.
If you are looking for interim Operations Director jobs rather than hiring, the live board below lists current roles; fractional COO jobs cover the part-time market.
08.1/ health and safety
Hire an interim Operations Director: health and safety comes with the seat
In manufacturing, logistics and many service operations, the Operations Director carries much of the day-to-day health and safety load, so it belongs in the brief when you hire an interim Operations Director. HSE’s guidance for directors is direct: health and safety law places duties on organisations and employers, directors can be personally liable when those duties are breached, and board members have both collective and individual responsibility for health and safety (HSE: Leading health and safety at work).
HSE also says a health and safety policy should evolve with major organisational change such as a restructuring or a significant acquisition (HSE: plan, do, check, act). Those are exactly the situations interim Operations Directors are hired into. Ask candidates how they handled risk assessments, worker consultation and incident reporting through a change programme, and take references from recent assignments.
We send a shortlist of three to five interim Operations Directors, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out. If the job is the whole operating model at board level, see hiring an interim COO; for part-time operations leadership, a fractional COO.
09/ contract
Interim Operations Director jobs: how the assignment is contracted
Interim Operations Director jobs are usually contracted through the interim’s own limited company, on a fixed-term agreement that sets out the scope, the term, the day rate, the days a week and notice on each side. The scope is the outcome from the brief: the fix, the integration, the turnaround or the cover the assignment exists to deliver.
IR35 status turns on how the assignment runs in practice, not on what the contract calls it. HMRC looks at substitution, control and whether either side must offer or accept further work. Medium and large clients make the status determination; for a small private-sector client, the interim’s own company does (HMRC off-payroll guidance). See the IR35 guide.
TEST 1
Substitution
Whether the interim’s company could send a suitably qualified substitute, and whether that right is genuine in practice.
What HMRC looks atTEST 2
Control
Who decides how the work is done, as distinct from what the assignment must deliver.
What HMRC looks atTEST 3
Mutuality
Whether either side is obliged to offer or accept work beyond the agreed assignment.
What HMRC looks at10/ process
How to hire an interim Operations Director with us
What we undertake on every brief.
- 01
Brief
A 30-minute call on the assignment, the start date and what the interim Operations Director must have delivered by the end of the term.
DAY 0 - 02
Search
We search and screen against that brief: track record at your stage and in your situation, and references we take ourselves.
SCREENING - 03
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5 - 04
Start
You interview and choose. The interim you choose contracts with you.
YOU CHOOSE
11/ questions
Interim Operations Director FAQ
Hiring an interim Operations Director, or looking for interim Operations Director jobs.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Hiring an interim Operations Director? Start with the brief.
Book 15 minutes.
